Union suit



Jan. 8 1924} 1,480,333

- D. ATWATER UNION SUIT Filed April 25. 1922 IN VEN TOR.

' ATTORNEY.

Patented Jan. 8, 1924.

UNITED STATES DAVID A'I'WATER, F WESTFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

UNION SUIT..

Application filed April 25, 1922. Serial no. 556,492.:

To all whom it may concern:

B it known that I, DAvIo ATWATER, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Westfield, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts. have invented a new and useful Union Suit, of

which the following is a Specification.

My invention relates to improvements in union suits, and consists in combining with 19 such suits permanent hose supporters. The union suits employed are ofthe full-length type in-contradistinction' to the knee-length type, and as a rule areof the knitted or woven variety which have seams on the insides of the leg portions. The hose supporters are attached to the aforesaid seams or to the seamed parts of the legs of the union suit, below those portions of said legs that cover the knees of the wearer. The hose 20 supporters may be made up in a numberof different ways and out of a number of different materials, but usually will consistof clasps or their equivalents and buttons or their equivalents attached to the legs of the union suit, or tothe seams or seamed portions thereof as'previously stated.

The primary object of my invention is to produce a combination union suit and hose supporters, to the end that the separate and no individual or independent hose supporters commonly used shall be dispensed with. It

is difiicult properly to adjust'the'ordinary hosesupporter to the leg so that it will not bind'on the one hand, or be too loose on-the other. With the present invention provision is made for supporting the hose without binding the leg or producing any discomfort whatever. In this case the hose are supported or held up in place properly and se- 40 curely, and thestrain is distributed throughout the legs and the otherporti'ons of the garment in such a manner as to be unappreciable. Furthermore, these permanentlyattached hose supporters eliminate two separate articles of wearing apparel and consequently excel in convenience and as timesavers. Being attached to the seams or seamed parts of the union suit the hose supporters are not liable to tear or unduly S rain the fabric of such suit."

V v A further object is to provide a fulllength union suit with hose-supporting means which are comparatively simple and inexpensive, and which'do not impair-in any y the u efulness 'or ordinary utility of such suit, or seriously interfere with laundering the same. v f y I Other objects and advantages will appear in the course, of the following-description.

I attain the objects and secure the advantages of my'invention by the'meansillus trated in the accompanying drawings, in

which p Figure 1 is a perspective ylew of a union suit which embodies apract cal form of my f" invention; Fig. 2, an enlarged frontelevation ofa portion of oneo'fthe legs of said suit, wlth one of thehose supporters at-'- tached thereto or connected therewith, the same being in side elevation and'unfastened or open, and, Fig. 3, an inner side elevation of said legand of saidsupporter, the latter being fastened or closed as would be the case ifthe top portion of a Stocking or sock were engaged therewith and" held thereby.

Similar reference characters designate 'sim' ilar parts throughout the several views.

An ordinary knitted or woven suit is represented at l in Fig. 1, which suit has fulllength leg portions 22', seamed at 3-3 on the insides from the bottoms thereof to the crotch. The garment supporters are at tached to theseseamsor' to theseamed portions of the legs 2 below'the parts of said legs that cover the knees of the wearer.

Each of the aforesaid hose supporters, in the present embodiment of the invention. consists of a clasps connected with one of the legs 2, or with the seam 3 onseamed part thereof. bv means of a tab 5, a11d ,abutton 6 attached also to s id leg, or to said seam or said seamed part, below said tab. Each tab 5 is sewed or stitched to the garment. so also is each button 6. 1

"The clasps 4 are of the usualfand well" known type of garment supporter clasps;

each having a wide opening above and anarrow openingbelow, so as to enable the clasp to be passed over its associated button 6 and the portion ofahose that is placed over said button, and then drawn upwardly to force said portion of said hose that covers said button tightly into engagement with the latter, all in the usual and customary manner. The top portions of the clasps 4 pass through and arp directly supported by the tabs 5, which latter are looped and stitched above said top portions and to the garment at the scams 3.

Each button 6 is located at such a distance below the associated tab 5 as to enable the clasp 4t attachedto said tab to engage said button and a hose caught over the same, in the manner required in order to secure and support said hose, without appreciably wrinkling the leg 2 to which the garment-supporting members are attached. In other words; the hose, when held in place by these garment supporters and tending. to pull down on the same. cause the scams 3 to be drawninto and maintain approximately straight lines.

In practice, while either clasp 4 is dis-- engaged from the button 6 below, as shown in FigM Q, theupper portion of a hose is caught over said button, the contiguous portion of the leg 2 to which said button is at- --tached, with the button, and said hose are forced upwardly, or that portion of said leg to which the tab 5- for said clasp is attached is forced downwardly, or both of such portions of said .leg are forc'edtoward each other, until-said button and the wide portion of said claspare in adjacent relationship, when said clasp is closed over the hose and button, and the aforesaidportions of said leg are separated, the one from the other or both together, until said button with its covering of hose is crowded or edged into the narrow portion of the clasp. The hose is now-held securely by the supporter and prevented from working clownwardly on the leg. The strain of the hose is transm tted from the engaging button and clasp to the seamed portion of the garment leg with which theyare connected,an'd there- 'by distributed to other portions of said leg,

and even to the. garment above the same. A fragment 7 of a hose is represented as being in the grasp of' the hose supporter shown in full lines in Fig. 1.

In releasing ,or disengaging the hose from either s1ipporter,=either of the fabric parts, to which the button and tab are, directly attached is forced toward the other,or both of such paits are forced toward "each other,

until said utton and the clasp are inrelative position for disengagement, when the v c-l-as'p is. swungoutwardly', and; the hose is removed from the button.

The operations of engaging the hose with the supporters and disengaging them therefrom are, of course, very similar to those involved in separable and independent or band-hose supporters, except that in the, present case the legs of the garment or por tions of such legs take the place of elastic elements which. constitute parts of said secondnamed supporters; in

As has been previously intimated, con-' siderable latitude must be allowed for the construction or formation of the hose-supporting elements which, I may employ, wherefore I do not intend to be restricted to the common .clasp and button herein shown and specifically described, but seek to claim broadly any hose-supporting means, which means is a permanent part of or permanentlyattached to the lower portions of ments have been provided with hose supporters which xtend below the bottomsof the legs of such garments on the outside, and t have supporting members extending up the sides of the body of such undergarment, and

do not, therefore, seek to cover a combination undergarment and hose" such a character.

What I claim as my invention,and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. As an improved article of manufacture,

a full-length union suit having tabs, with.

supporters of hose-engaging clasps", .and buttons attached directly to the lower portions of the legs of said suit on the inside,the tab and button in each case being attached at different points to the leg,-in proper spacedrelationship to enable the clasp of said tab and said button to' cooperate for hose-supporting purposes.

2. As an improved article of manufacture, a full' length union suit having seams on. the insides of'the legs thereof, and tab, with hose-engaging clasps, and button in each case, said tabs and buttons being attached at different pointsto 'one' of such legs at the seams; in proper spaced relationship to enable the clasp. of said tab and said buttonto co-op'erate for hose supporting purposes.-

3. As 'an improved article ofmanufacture, a f-u'll length union: suit, loopedta'bs attached abovehthezloops therein tov the insides :of the legs of such suit, hose-engaging clasps havingtheir top parts passed through the loopsin said tabs, and hose-engaging buthaving their top parts passed through the tons attached directly to said legs below loops in said tabs, and hose-engaging but- 10 said tabs.

tons attached to said legs across said seams 4. As an improved article of manufacture, below said tabs.

5 a full-length union suit having seams on the insides of the legs thereof, looped tabs attached above the loops therein to the said legs across said seams, hose-engagingrclasps DAVID ATWATER. Witnesses CHARLES ATWATEB, J EANNETTE A. Ivns.. 

